TLW

LIVERPOOL U18 2 Blackburn U18 0 Report by Pete Schulz at the Academy Scorer(s) - Astrit Ajdarevic, Nathan EcclestonHalf Time - 2-0 Venue - Liverpool Academy, Kirkby Date - Sat 6 Oct 2007 Star Man - Astrit Ajdarevic Promising Swedish playmaker Astrit Ajdarevic’s stunning 25 yard effort and man of the match performance set up a comfortable 2-0 win for the U18s at the Academy on Saturday morning. But the game will also be remembered for the red card correctly shown to German forward Marvin Pourie in the second half. Hughie McAuley had been given permission to include promising left back Robbie Threlfall, and once again the double FA Youth Cup winner was rock solid at the back. He is currently not getting a game with Gary Ablett’s reserve side, so perhaps he should look for a temporary move away from the club to gain experience. He's far too good to not play and youth level will no longer present a real challenge for the 18 year-old. The first half kicked off in glorious sunshine in Kirkby. A more certain sign that global warming is upon us you will never see. Normally, to watch these games you must literally walk through both wind and rain. The visitors from Blackburn looked composed in the opening stages, but soon the young reds settled down and assumed control of the game. As pressure built on the Blackburn goal, Sean Highdale’s low effort was palmed wide by Arestidou in the visiting goal. The resulting corner was met by David Amoo, today operating from the right wing, but he saw his header crash off the crossbar and onto the line before it was cleared. I couldn’t see whether it was over or not, but the reds didn’t protest. They weren’t to wait long for the opening goal, however, because only two minutes later, the ball fell to Ajdarevic 25 yards from goal. He let it bounce once while he set himself and then drove in an unstoppable shot which flew into the bottom of the Blackburn goal. His first goal for the club since arriving in January was a truly magnificent effort and well worth the long wait. The goal gave Liverpool even more control and chances fell to David Amoo, after a good flick from Marvin Pourie, Astrit Ajdarevic from a freekick before Pourie put the ball wide from strike partner Nathan Eccleston’s good low centre. The German missed again when Ajdarevic played him in with only the keeper to beat. But his left foot effort was tame. It didn’t seem to put the forward off though and shortly afterwards he returned the favour but Eccleston was tackled just as he was shaping to shoot. Blackburn hadn’t threatened Dean Bouzanis’s goal at all, but when they did, he was on hand to palm a curling shot from Aaron Doran onto the far post and away to safety. But that was the last time Blackburn could feel they were in the game. A minute before the break, David Amoo collected the ball on the right inside his own half and sprinted past his full back with the ball. He played it in low and hard for Eccleston to bundle over the line from close range. Game over. In the second half the reds created more openings and Highdale had a weak effort saved before Eccleston robbed the goalkeeper in possession before he was brought down. It looked a penalty to me, but the keeper simply called for Eccleston to stop acting like a big girl and get up. Blackburn were still not really in it, and when Marvin Pourie’s marker succeeded in winding up the forward by twisting the German’s nipple, the youngster snapped and planted an elbow in the chest of the Blackburn player right in front of the linesman. Unsurprisingly, the official failed to spot the initial provocation. Marvin Pourie could have no complaints about the red card, however. Still, his team mates were still in the driving seat and Eccleston, now up front on his own and recapturing some of last season’s brilliant form, threatened on several occasions. Blackburn’s only chance of the half fell to tall forward Marcus Marshall five minutes from time, but his header was wide of the Liverpool goal. After this, the reds dropped deeper, but there was still time for young substitute Adam Wilson making his debut at U18 level on the left wing to smash a curling effort from the edge of the box onto the crossbar. Team: Bouzanis; Irwin, Kelly, Kennedy, Threlfall; Amoo, Highdale, Ajdarevic, Kacaniklic (Wilson 83); Pourie, Eccleston:

http://www.liverpoolway.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?p=844928

LIVERPOOL 0 Marseille 1 Report by Dave Usher at Anfield Scorer(s) - Half Time - 0 -0 Venue - Anfield Date - Wed 3 October 2007 Star Man - Pepe Reina It’s been coming for a few weeks. Since the international break, we’ve been woeful in every game bar one, and that was the Carling Cup game at Reading. Other than that, we’ve been terrible, and there is clearly something seriously wrong at the moment. Marseille are a poor side, yet they looked like a crack European outfit with the ease that they handled us at Anfield. They fully deserved this win, and we look like we’re teetering on the brink of being in serious trouble. I know we’re still unbeaten in the league, and only four points off the top with a game in hand, and we haven’t conceded in open play etc and blah blah blah. I also know that disregarding the Reading game, our last five performances have been absolutely rank, with this being the worst. I’d like to say it came as a shock, but it honestly didn’t. I posted on the forum that I thought we’d struggle, and I said the same to a few people before the game. We’re in a terrible run, and I couldn’t see us just suddenly snapping out of it just like that. I’d love to be able to offer an explanation why we’ve suddenly gone so shit, but I don’t have one. I bet Rafa doesn’t have one either, and that’s the worry. There’s a number of possible reasons, ranging from Pako’s departure to rotation. It’s probably a combination of everything. We’re missing Alonso and Agger, and against Marseille we were really hurt by the absence of Pennant too. We’ve got ome players low on confidence, some low on form, and others who simply aren’t up to the job. Throw in some strange selections and substitutions by the manager, and you’ve got one big fuck off mess. When we hammered Derby to go top of the league, comparisons were made with the last time that happened, under Gerard Houllier. We went to Boro and lost, and from that moment on it was a downward spiral. “It won’t happen this time, we’ve got a much better squad and we’ve got Rafa” was the general consensus. I still feel like that, but there is a growing number of people who don’t. Sunday’s game with Spurs is absolutely huge now, win and we’re back on track and it’s crisis averted. Lose, and there’ll be all kinds of flak flying Rafa’s way. He’s getting a lot of criticism at the moment, and some of it is fair, but it’s pissing me off that the players seem to be escaping the same kind of stick when for me they are more to blame than the manager for the terrible performances of late. How is it Rafa’s fault when highly rated, highly paid players suddenly lose the ability to control and pass the ball to a team-mate. Instead of pointing the finger of blame at under-performing players, it’s all directed at Rafa and his rotation policy. Of course, sometimes he doesn’t help himself. His team selection to face Marseille was a bit strange. I don’t think anyone expected Leto to be starting, but I must admit I didn’t have a problem with it prior to kick off. Midway through the first half though it was obvious the lad was having a mare and needed to come off. Problem was, he wasn’t the only one having a stinker. Sissoko was terrible, and Aurelio was not much better either. We hit far too many long balls to Crouch and Torres, and the frontmen are largely free from blame as far as I’m concerned after this. They had no service, but both worked hard and I felt sorry for them. Crouch was made to look bad by his midfield. Basically, the only service he got was either a long high ball that he was expected to flick on (admittedly some of his flicks were shit), or it was hit long and high for him to chest down, and then dribble backwards before laying it off to his centre halves. It was so reminiscent of Heskey in the latter part of Houllier’s reign. Some people are moaning about Crouch, but what else is he going to do? He can’t turn and then go past three defenders from the halfway line because he has no pace, and at the moment he’s struggling for confidence. He couldn’t give it to his midfield because they were all having mares and weren’t helping him out at all. So he has to go back, and then people have a go at him. Crouch desperately missed Pennant in my opinion. Our midfield were absolutely appalling, all four of them. Sissoko and Gerrard have very really been selected to play as a pairing, and after this I can see why. I always thought it would work pretty well, but it’s obvious Rafa has always had reservations about it because he’s hardly ever gone with it. We may have the ‘best midfield in the world’ but not when these two are in tandem. Momo seems to have lost the ability to pass the ball to a team-mate, and Gerrard has been shit since he decided he’d play twice in a week for England. They were outplayed by a Marseille midfield that included Bruno Cheyrou’s brother for fucks sake. Gerrard played too deep for a lot of the game, but that’s because he had to really. Someone has to collect the ball off the defence and try to get us moving, and you wouldn’t want it to be Sissoko. The defence played too many long balls, but when the alternative is to play it in to a player who you can’t trust to keep the ball, it’s somewhat understandable. We needed Gerrard to get forward to support the strikers, but he couldn’t do it often enough because he also had to try and be the playmaker. In the end, he did neither and could have been sent off when he went in with raised studs when he was already on a booking (an incredibly harsh booking it should be said). He was poor, but he was still miles better than the other three. He seriously missed having Alonso or Mascherano alongside him, because to be honest he just looked lost to me. I think some people may now start to realise exactly how important Xabi Alonso is to this side, because without him we’re like an orchestra without it’s conductor. Our midfield four absolutely stank the place out against Marseille, and we were crying out for Mascherano to come on to give us that steadying influence that we were lacking. He should have been on at half time, along with Babel. They were the two players we needed, but instead we got Riise, Voronin and eventually Kuyt. I don’t understand why Voronin was brought on to play on the wing, when Babel was available. It’s baffling. Marseille were the better side in the first half, and they were the better side in the second too. They had a goal ruled out for offside in the first half that I thought was perfectly legitimate. I haven’t seen any replays, so maybe the linesman was right, but it looked onside to me at the time and I was relieved to see the flag go up. They’d made their intentions known early on, when the lone striker (don’t know his name but he impressed me a lot) got in behind and Reina saved his snapshot. The lad who played on the right looked very useful, as did the little fella who played in the hole. Both of those, along with the striker, gave us a lot of problems with their movement and skill. We offered nothing at all in terms of goal threat in the first half. They were comfortable at the back, and kept the ball when they had it. It was a very accomplished display from Marseille, who were backed by a large, vocal travelling support who also put us to shame on the night. They sang from start to finish, we didn’t. The poor form of the team has transmitted itself to the crowd now, and this was one of the poorer European atmosphere’s of recent seasons. I sat there at half time, and I said to myself “this isn’t going to get any better”. I thought we’d probably hold out for a draw as the one thing we are still doing is keeping clean sheets, but if I had to say who was more likely to get a goal I would have said Marseille. Had Mascherano came on, things would have improved, as even though he’s been giving the ball away a fair bit recently, it’s nothing compared to Momo. It’s painful to see what’s happened to Sissoko over the past 12 months. He came back from the eye injury and picked up where had left off, but strangely he has never been the same since the shoulder injury he sustained against Birmingham. He looked like he was getting back into the groove earlier this season, but then along came this game. He was horrendously bad, and should have been subbed for his own good, as well as that of the team. He must feel absolutely dreadful after that, his confidence will have been shot to pieces, and I feel for him. Will he bounce back from it? I doubt it, as most of the fans don’t have any faith in him any more, and worse still, his team-mates probably don’t either. You could see that sometimes the players didn’t want to give him the ball because he kept losing it. I just couldn’t see the sense in keeping him on, and in the end it cost us, as he lost possession and Marseille broke upfield and scored. Why would you keep him on? Why? It is madness. Fair enough, you might indulge someone like Luis Garcia when he kept giving the ball away because you are hoping he’ll produce a moment of magic. Momo isn’t going to do that, and when he’s playing like this he’s a liability. Leto got the hook first, and he can have no complaints. He was dreadful, and got progressively worse as the game wore on. He’s only a young lad, and you could see his confidence being sucked away with every poor touch or misplaced pass. Although they obviously play in different positions, I couldn’t help thinking of Paletta against Arsenal last season when I saw Leto struggling so badly. Riise came on for him, but he did nothing either. He is another player struggling for form, and there are simply too many of those at the club right now. Aurelio was the next one replaced, and again he can have no complaints as he was terrible. He’s coming back from injury, so he has an excuse I suppose. Voronin was his replacement and he went to the right wing, meaning Benayoun moved to the left wing with Riise dropping in at full back. Babel would have been the more logical choice for me. Finally, Crouch was replaced by Kuyt, which was fair enough and few could question the logic behind that decision. The changes didn’t really improve things, at least not until we entered stoppage time anyway. As soon as the fourth official raised the board informing us there would be four minutes added on, we suddenly came to life. We could have scored three times in that four minutes, after doing fuck all in the previous ninety. All those blaming the manager should maybe ask how come the players waited so long to show any urgency? When they did, Marseille wobbled badly. Hyypia headed wide from a corner when he should have at least hit the target. Benayoun had a header turned round the post, and Torres somehow had a shot cleared off the line when a goal seemed certain. We bombarded their goal in stoppage time, which begs the question why they couldn’t do it before then? Marseille held out, just, and like I said in the opening paragraph, they were worthy winners. Good luck to them, their fans were superb and their players worked incredibly hard closing us down and fighting for every ball. They were clever in possession, and were simply the better side on the night. Even in their wildest dreams Cisse and Zenden couldn’t have imagined a better return to Anfield than this. Both got good receptions, and their team belied their status as the fourth from bottom side in France to outplay Liverpool at Anfield. They are in prime position to reach the knock out stages now as group winners. We’ve got a lot to do to even qualify, but I still think we’ll do it. We need to beat Porto at home, and beat Besiktas twice and that should do it. Any more performances like this however, and we can forget it. Only Reina and Finnan played well, and to a lesser extent Sami and Carra who defended ok but struggled in possession due to the increased pressure on them to make the play in the absence of Alonso. I’m giving Pepe the star man, as he did well with everything he had to do, and had no chance with the goal. We’re at a crossroads now in Rafa’s reign. The flak is flying from all sides now due to his rotation. He’s lost his trusted right hand man, and his players look disinterested and clueless. It could just be that one good win will turn everything around, or it could be that our problems run much deeper than that. I don’t understand a lot of the things he’s doing, but my faith in him hasn’t started to waiver at all. His players need to stand up and be counted now. Some of them are hiding behind this ‘rotation’ stuff and seem happy to let the manager take the blame for their shortcomings. It’s time for them to stand up and be counted, starting this Sunday when we simply must beat Spurs. Team: Reina; Finnan, Carragher, Hyypia, Aurelio (Voronin); Benayoun, Gerrard, Sissoko, Leto (Riise); Crouch (Kuyt), Torres:

You missed off Ted. I don't think Malarkey or Sir will play as they have no lift.

http://www.liverpoolway.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=51490

LIVERPOOL RES 0 Sunderland Res 1 Report by Dave Usher at the Halliwell Jones Stadium Scorer(s) Half Time – 0-1 Venue – Halliwell Jones Stadium, Warrington Date - Tue 2 Oct 2007 Star Man – Jay Spearing The ressies’ first game at their new ‘home’ in Warrington didn’t end well, as they suffered their first defeat of the season at the hands of a strong Sunderland side. The result was somewhat harsh, as Gary Ablett’s youngsters were certainly worth a point at least, and played some good football at times against their more experienced opponents. The under-strength reds had to make do without skipper Jack Hobbs, as well as Nabil El Zhar, Sebastian Leto and Lucas Leiva. There was still no sign of the new Hungarians, or the new Spanish lad Daniel Ayala. Dani Pacheco was also missing, apparently representing Spain in an u17 tournament somewhere. Ronald Huth and Ray Putterill made their first starts of the season, and there was a place on the bench for in form Academy striker Marvin Pourie. Sunderland fielded a forward line including David Connolly, Daryl Murphy and Anthony Stokes, Kiki Musampa was in the middle of midfield and Greg Halford and Ian Harte provided experience in the full back spots. Halford is much bigger than I realised, and he provided Putterill with a real challenge. For the most part, the Sunderland man bossed the encounter and the physical contrast meant at times it looked like man against boy. It wasn’t all one way though, and ‘Razor’ had some good moments of his own. He will have benefited much more from this than he would have from ripping the piss out of some no-mark for ninety minutes. This will have been a good experience for Ray. The same can be said for the rest of Ablett’s side. Huth and San Jose played very well against Sunderland’s experienced forwards, and Spearing’s battle with Musampa was the highlight of the game for me. The Liverpool midfielder was the best player on the pitch and he definitely got the better of the Dutchman. Liverpool started the game better than the visitors, but found it difficult to create any clear cut openings. Putterill had a decent effort on five minutes when he won possession on the halfway line and surged forward down the left wing. He cut inside onto his stronger foot, but his curling shot was too high. Jordy Brouwer thought he’d given his side the lead after 19 minutes when he headed in a fine cross from the excellent Stephen Darby, but his celebrations were curtailed by a linesman’s flag. I’d say he probably was just off, but it was tight. Sunderland had not really threatened at all, but went on front against the run of play just after the half hour, when Huth lost his footing and Stokes went clean through the centre. Dave Martin came out and did well to initially snuff out the danger, but O’Donovan followed up and rounded the keeper before finishing well from a tightening angle. The goal sparked a good spell from the Wearsiders, and Connolly should have added a second shortly after, when he produced a brilliant first touch to pull a long ball out of the sky and away from Martin, but he blasted his shot well over the bar. The Irishman had an even better opportunity just before the halftime whistle when Stokes got in behind the reds’ defence and cut the ball across perfectly for his strike partner, but Martin made a good save with his outstretched right leg. The keeper repeated the feat immediately after the break, as Connolly got through again only to see his shot come back of Martin’s boot. Liverpool were wobbling a bit at this point, as the movement of Sunderland’s forwards was posing some problems. As the half wore on however, Ablett’s side began to apply some pressure. The impressive Emiliano Insua went closest to an equaliser when he strode forward and thumped a drive against the underside of the crossbar. It was a fabulous hit and deserved a goal, but it wasn’t to be. Liverpool had to change something if they were to begin to threaten Sunderland’s goal more frequently, and Ablett decided to gamble a bit by abandoning his rigid 4-4-2 with two holding players, and pushing Spearing further forward to support the front two. Jay’s defensive qualities are a real strength of his, as anyone who saw his flawless performances at centre back in last year’s FA Youth Cup success will testify. But he can attack as well, and when he was let off the leash by Ablett he began causing Sunderland all kinds of problems. He was unlucky not to score when Lindfield’s persistence down the right ended with him squaring the ball for ‘Speo’, but his shot was blocked by the keeper. Jay also had a penalty appeal waved away after a surging run past three players was halted by a robust challenge from behind. I didn’t see it very clearly as the referee was blocking my view of it, but there were no real appeals from our lads so I assume the Sunderland player must have got the ball. Shame, as it was a fantastic run. Brouwer should have scored with a free header from an Insua cross, but he disappointingly sent the ball looping over the bar, whilst Insua and Spearing both had shots from distance comfortably saved by the keeper. Ablett made changes to try and give his side a spark, but they made little difference. The lads had a sustained spell of pressure in the middle of the second half, but when the breakthrough never came they seemed to run out of ideas. Sunderland began to threaten on the break and almost made it 2-0 in stoppage time when Stokes was denied by Martin. Overall, not a great performance by any means, but not bad either considering the strength of the opposition. Star man was Spearing, but others played well too. San Jose looks a good player, Darby and Insua did well in the full back positions and Plessis (pictured) was good in possession and worked hard. I liked the look of Pourie when he came on, it’s a shame he didn’t get longer. He’s not been at the club long, and this was his first experience with the reserve squad. A lot of young foreign lads in that situation would understandably be a little daunted by it, but as soon as he got on the field he was screaming encouragement to his team-mates and looks to have something about him. There was a stoppage in play towards the end, and there was a huge shout of ‘COME ON!!!!!!!’ from one of the players. I looked over, and it was Marvin. I liked that, he’s obviously got character. I think if the side had been at full strength they would have gotten at least a draw out of this game, but there were things to take encouragement from. The side still looks a little short up front, and I’m really looking forward to Pacheco finally making an appearance as I could see him and Lindfield forming a useful partnership. There will be a few players in this squad hoping to catch the manager’s eye ahead of the Carling Cup tie with Cardiff, none more so than Spearing. He deserves a chance in the first team, but he’s extremely unfortunate that he plays in the position where we have incredible strength in depth. Insua and Darby probably have more of a chance, but it’s going to be hard for them too as Rafa already has Arbeloa, Finnan, Riise and Aurelio for the full back spots. Realistically, Hobbs is the only one who appears to have a chance of getting a game, but you never know I suppose. Team: Martin; Darby, San Jose, Huth, Insua; Flynn (Threlfall), Spearing, Plessis, Putterill (Crowther); Lindfield (Pourie), Brouwer:

Torres taken care of, thanks to Drewy http://www.liverpoolway.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?p=840694

FERNANDO TORRES 2007-2011 by Andrew Morris & Dave Usher Date of Birth - 20/03/84 Nationality - Spanish Position - Striker Games - 142 Goals - 81 Club Hons (Lpool) - None Club Hons (Other) - None Intnl Hons - Spanish Caps Other Clubs - Atletico Madrid, Chelsea Fernando Jose Torres Sanz was born on 20th March 1984 in Fuenlabrada, a large suburban town south of Madrid. Despite this being a traditionally Real Madrid region Torres began his professional football career at close rivals Atletico Madrid. It was obvious from an early age that Torres was a gifted striker when at the age of ten he scored 55 goals for his first eleven-a-side team Rayo 13, subsequently winning himself a trial with Atletico Madrid. Atletico liked what they saw and he joined them in 1995. The subsequent four years saw Torres move rapidly through the youth ranks culminating in his first important youth title in 1998 in which an under-15 Atletico won the Nike Cup Europe, competing against youth teams from Real Madrid, Barcelona, Milan, Manchester United and Juventus. He was later voted as the best player in Europe for that age-group. In 1999 he signed his first professional contract with Atletico but bad luck was to strike in 2000 when the young forward broke his leg, not returning to action until December of that year. The first two years of his career with Atletico where fairly unspectacular, netting just 7 goals in 40 games in the Segundo league. After promotion to La Liga in 2002, Torres truly began to flourish. 2002 saw him add the Uefa European under-19 title to the under 16 title he won in 2001. He went on to score 13 goals in 29 games, an outstanding haul for an 18 year old in one of the Europe’s toughest leagues. The following season he was named captain after an impressive season in which he bagged 19 goals. The continuing inability of Atletico to offer him European football through the subsequent seasons finally proved to be the turning point in his career. At the end of the 2006-07 season Torres was again the subject of much transfer speculation, with all of Europe’s elite seemingly linked with him. The self confessed Liverpool fan however, only had eyes for Anfield. Despite the £26 million fee banded around by the some of the less educated British press, Torres’s real cost was just under £20 million whilst taking a pay cut to join the 5 times European champions. On August 11th 2007 Torres made his competitive debut at Aston Villa in a 2-1 win. His first Premier League goal came 8 days later against Chelsea at Anfield. It was a pure striker’s goal, an intelligent run, exquisite control followed by a turn of pace which left the Chelsea defence in its wake before a slide rule finish into the far corner. The sign of things to come? You better believe it. In the years that followed, Torres would prove himself to be arguably the best frontman in World Football. He formed an almost telepathic understanding with Steven Gerrard, and the duo terrorised defences both domestically and in Europe. This was never more in evidence than during a 4-1 win at Old Trafford, in which Gerrard and (especially) Torres absolutely destroyed Nemanja Vidic who was eventually sent off to end his misery. Torres was the leading light for his country too, as they lifted the European Championship crown in 2008, with the reds' frontman scoring the winning goal in the final against Germany. He was also part of the Spanish squad that lifted the World Cup in 2010, but he'd been reduced to a bit part player due to a troublesome knee injury that had plagued him during the second half of the 2009-10 season. Speculation on Torres' future went into overdrive during the summer of 2010. The club was stagnating under the ownership of Gillett & Hicks and the likelihood of trophies was deminishing by the day. Torres had been upset about the departure of Xabi Alonso 12 months earlier and seeing Javier Mascherano and Yossi Benayoun also pack their bags and leave did little to persuade him he should stay. After numerous meetings with club officials, Torres agreed to give it another season but it was clear from his performances his heart was no longer in it. Some of his displays were nothing short of disgraceful. There were some flashes, most notably against Chelsea at Anfield when he scored both in a 2-0 win, but generally he appeared disinterested. Roy Hodgson's sacking coupled with the appointment of Kenny Dalglish gave renewed hope that Torres may recapture his form and interest, but when Chelsea in with a bid towards the end of the January transfer window, 'Liverpool's number nine' made it clear he wanted out and he was sold for the princely sum of £50m, which was immediately used to replace him with Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll.

RYAN BABEL 2007-11 by Snez1 and Dave Usher Date of Birth - 19/12/86 Nationality - Dutch Position - Winger / Forward Games - 146 Goals - 22 Club Hons (Lpool) - Club Hons (Other) - 2005 & 2006 Dutch Super Cup, 2005-06 & 2006-07 Dutch Cup Intnl Hons - Dutch Caps Other Clubs - Ajax, Hoffenheim Dutch forward Ryan Babel joined Liverpool from Ajax on July 10th 2007 for a fee of £11.5m. Many claimed the fee was excessive for a youngster still thought of as a “rough diamond” in his homeland, but the hefty price tag did not deter Rafa Benitez from bringing the exciting talent to Anfield. After being nurtured through the prolific Ajax youth set up Babel made his first official outing aged just 17 on February 1, 2004. His first goal came against De Graafschap in November 2004. He featured a total of 97 times for the Amsterdam side, scoring 19 times along the way and picking up 2 Dutch Super Cups (scoring the winner against PSV in 2005) and a Dutch F.A. Cup. The promise he showcased at Ajax led to his international debut on March 26, 2005 when he became the 4th youngest ever scorer for the Dutch national team with a well-taken finish after replacing Arjen Robben against Romania. He has since figured on 17 occasions for the full national team, scoring 3 other goals against Italy, Mexico and Russia. He had been described as “having the potential to be the next Thierry Henry” by National team coach and striking legend Marco Van Basten and early into his Liverpool career flashes of his talent were in evidence, particularly in his wonderful debut goal at the Anfield Road end against Derby. Whilst there were much debate as to what the explosive youngster's best position would be, many believed that he would settle down into a second striker role, playing just off an out and out front man. It was in this position where he shone in the Under 21 Tournament in the summer of 2007. Babel was voted man of the match in the final and got his name on the score sheet in the 4-1 victory over Serbia. He also scored a penalty earlier in the competition against Portugal. He was widely acclaimed as one of the biggest successes in the competition. Despite this impressive form, his long awaited and expected move to Arsenal didn’t materialise as Arsene Wenger decided that, after many years of tracking the Dutch youngster, £11.5m was just too much money to splash out at the time. Rafa Benitez didn’t hang around and almost out of the blue Babel was being paraded at Anfield. Blessed with speed, skill, power, strength, a thunderous shot, and an awkward style to boot, Ryan Babel seemed to have all the required tools to be a top player on the world stage. It hasn't turned out that way however. His first season at Anfield was pretty much what was expected of a talented yet relatively inexperienced player. He was inconsistent early on and struggled to play 90 minutes, admitting himself that the Premier League was a greater physical challenge than he was used to. However, even during the early stages of the season when he struggled to find his best form he did produce moments of brilliance that showcased his exceptional potential. As the season progressed he managed to make the left wing position more or less his own and scored a decent number of goals (10), including a tie clinching winner against Arsenal at the Kop end in the Champions League quarter final. Unfortunately for Ryan he was unable to participate in Euro 2008 for the Dutch national side due to injury but he subsequently called up to the Olympic squad a couple of months later, much to the annoyance of Rafa Benitez. Babel's second season at Anfield was one where people were much more demanding of him and both supporters and manager expected him to become more of a regular starter in the side. Yet the opposite happened. He struggled to hold down a starting place, often contributing very little when he was chose to start games, and most of his best moments came as an impact substitute late on. And even those occurrences were becoming increasingly rare. Babel's frustration began to grow, and there were regular media outbursts whenever he went on international duty. He even asked to be loaned back to former club Ajax, a request that was flatly turned down by Benitez who told him to stop complaining and fight for his place. Relations between player and manager were deteriorating though, and the following season Babel often found himself unable to even force his way into the matchday squad. He was no longer even guaranteed a spot on the bench, let alone the starting XI, and given the standard of his performances it was difficult to make a case as to why Benitez should pick him. There were occasional flashes, such as scoring twice in a 6-1 win over Hull, creating a winner for Kuyt at West Ham and scoring a wonder goal in France against Lyon. All of those came after he'd been brought on as a late substitute, but more often than not when he started he was terrible. His frustration eventually boiled over when he criticised Benitez via his twitter account and hauled over the coals by the club. It seemed certain that Babel had burned his bridges, yet surprisingly the club reportedly turned down a sizable offer from Birmingham in the January transfer window and Babel was given a final chance to make an impression on Merseyside. The change of manager at the end of the season presented Ryan with an opportunity to re-establish himself, but his form remained erratic and Roy Hodgson selected him as sparingly as his predecessor. In January of 2011 new boss Kenny Dalglish accepted an offer from Hoffenheim and Babel's Liverpool career came to a close. His final significant act as a red came not on the pitch but off it, as he was fined by the FA for posting a photoshopped picture of Howard Webb in a Manchester United shirt on his twitter account after the official had screwed the reds in an FA Cup tie at Old Trafford.

SEBASTIAN LETO 2007-09 by Kurt Henriksen & Dave Usher Date of Birth - 30/08/86 Nationality - Argentinian Position - Left Midfield Games - 4 Goals - 0 Club Hons (Lpool) - None Intnl Hons - Argentina u21 Caps Other Clubs - Club Atletico Lanus, Olympiakos, Panathanaikos Sebastian Eduardo Leto was an unknown quantity for most Liverpool fans when Rafael Benitez surprisingly decided to swoop for him in the january transfer window of 2007. Leto made his first appearance for his club side Club Atlético Lanús in November 2005 19 years old. Lanus had a group of 1986 born players that were sensational at youth level, and Leto (along with Fritzler, Valeri and Lagos) slowly broke into the first team. In 2006 he made his breakthrough, with a series of quality performances against the top teams River Plate, Boca Juniors and San Lorenzo. His performances in those matches proved he had strength and character and soon the big clubs were pursuing his signature. River Plate entered negotiations with his club Lanús, but when the two sides failed to agree a fee, Liverpool quickly stepped in and signed him for a fee of £1.85m in January 2007. Sebastian Leto played out the season in Argentina before joining the reds in July 2007. He soon made his Liverpool debut on the 28th of August 2007 when Liverpool beat French side Toulose 4-0 to qualify for the Champions League. Further appearances followed against Reading and Cardiff in the League Cup, and Marseille in the Champions League. However, passport problems meant he was unavailable for much of his first season. Liverpool were denied a work permit for him in the summer of 2008 and he agreed to a two year loan at Greek side, Olympiakos. He fell out of favour at Olympiakos, and halfway through his loan period, there was interest from another Athens club in Panathinaikos. This led to the player making a permanent move for a fee believed to be around three million pounds.

YOSSI BENAYOUN PROFILE by Phil Matthews & Dave Usher Date of Birth - 05/05/80 Nationality - Israeli Position - Midfield Games - 134 Goals - 29 Club Hons (Lpool) - None Club Hons (other) - Israeli Championship 2001/02, 2002/03 Intnl Hons - Israel Caps Other Clubs - Hapoel Be'er Sheva, Maccabi Haifa, Racing Santander, West Ham, Chelsea Yosef Shai Benayoun, known as Yossi was signed in summer 2007 from West Ham for £6m. His signing was seen as a move to fill the small yet large shoes of Luis Garcia as a creative attacking midfielder. Yossi followed in the footsteps of fellow Israeli luminaries Ronny Rosenthal and the late Avi Cohen in pulling on the red shirt. Since he was a small boy, Yossi was touted for the top. He became captain of his national team and a household name in his native Israel, but has been so since he was a small child. At the age of 9, he signed for Hapoel Be'er Sheva and performed so impressively that he was invited to Ajax's legendary youth academy. Yossi struggled to settle in Amsterdam though, despite being the Ajax youth team's top goalscorer and moved back to Hapoel after just one season. This did not go down well in Israel as Ajax had offered Yossi a four year contract and his decision to move back to the Israeli league was seen as spurning a golden chance to make a name for himself. Yossi made his senior debut for Hapoel aged 17. It was not a good season for Hapoel and despite Yossi's record of 15 goals in 25 games and scoring the winner in the final match of the season against Maccabi Haifa, they were relegated on goal difference. Haifa were clearly impressed though and signed Benayoun in a strangely structured deal which involved Haifa and Hapoel sharing the profits from any sale. Yossi carried on his rich vein of goalscoring, hitting 55 goals in his 130 games for the club, helping them to two Israeli titles and the quarter finals of the now defunct Cup Winners Cup. In 2003, Yossi made the step up to La Liga where he played for Racing Santander for two seasons scoring 21 goals in 101 games. It was there where he came to the attention of many top European clubs, including Liverpool, then managed by Gerard Houllier. In 2005, Yossi moved to West Ham for £2.5m, where he impressed in the Premier League despite the league's physical nature and his diminutive stature. Most notably, Benayoun performed exceptionally well in the 2006 FA Cup Final against Liverpool. In May 2007 Yossi was offered a five year deal with West Ham, which he agreed with in principle, but delayed on signing. Liverpool took their chance and swooped to sign Benayoun on a four year contract. Notably, Yossi accepted a contract which was worth considerably less than the proposed contract that West Ham had offered him. Yossi made his competitive Liverpool debut away against Toulose in the Champions League Qualifiers and scored his first goal in the Carling Cup match away to Reading in September 2007. He was in and out of the side in his season at the club, and suffered the same fate for much of his second season too, as the wide players are traditionally the ones who suffer most from Rafa Benitez's 'rotation policy'. However, Benayouns form in the second half of the 2008/09 season was so good that he became as close to a fixture in the side as it's possible to be for a wide player who's name isn't Dirk Kuyt. He turned in some outstanding displays and scored some crucial goals, not least a stoppage time winner at Craven Cottage that kept alive the club's title hopes and a headed winner in the Bernebeu to sink Real Madrid. The reds would go on to finish second that season, amassing an impressive 86 points in the process, and Benayoun was a key contributor in that. Yossi claimed three hat-tricks for Liverpool, all at Anfield and all in different competitions. His first came in the FA Cup against Havant & Waterlooville, and was followed soon after by another against Besiktas in the Champions League, and he also notched three times in the Premiership against Burnley. The following year was a struggle for the reds, and Yossi found himself in and out of the side until eventually he was left out of the squad that went to Hull on the final day in favour of Nabil El Zhar and informed by Rafa Benitez that he should find a new team in the summer. Benitez himself would leave not long after, but Yossi had agreed to join Chelsea and despite the change of manager at Anfield he opted for pastures new and departed for Stamford Bridge.

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LIVERPOOL 0 Birmingham 0 Report by Dave Usher at Anfield Scorer(s) - Half Time - 0 -0 Venue - Anfield Date - Sat 22 September 2007 Star Man - Javier Mascherano Maybe we should have told the players this was a cup tie, as it’s the only way we seem to be able to beat Steve Bruce’s side. Just what is it about Birmingham at home? On paper it’s a game we should be winning easily, yet we always end up having problems with them. We’ve been unlucky in the past, Alonso’s last minute O.G. in a game we dominated was one example, but this wasn’t bad luck, it was just a rotten performance and Birmingham were good value for the draw as they were never in any trouble. What happened to the side that trounced Derby County a few weeks ago? Ever since then, we’ve been woeful. Much of the blame for that is being heaped at the manager’s door for his resting of players. For me, there’s no doubt that Rafa needs to look at the decision to leave Torres out of this one and also the draw at Pompey last week. I can half understand why he was left out at Fratton Park, but I just don’t get his reasons for not picking him against Birmingham. He said something about knowing that Birmingham would defend deep and there’d be no space in behind, so there was no point selecting him. So if every team we play sets up to defend deep, is there no point in picking Torres then? They were worried about Torres’ pace, so we decide not to pick him because they will set up to try and stop him? I don’t get it. We played right into their hands by going with Kuyt and Voronin. They’re too similar, offer no aerial threat and no threat in behind. I bet if Steve Bruce could have picked any two of our strikers to face, that’s the combo he’d have gone for. To be fair to Birmingham, I thought their two centre backs played really, really well and dealt with everything that came into the box. I just think we gave them a helping hand by leaving out Torres. So for that, I blame Benitez. However, it’s too easy to just put all our deficiencies down to rotation. It’s not Rafa’s fault that Gerrard is nursing a hangover from the international double header. It was the captain who chose to play two games in five days for England despite not having trained for three weeks. If he’d skipped those games then he’d have played at Fratton Park, and no doubt he’d have been in much better form than we’ve seen from him in the last two games, when he’s barely got out of second gear. And is it Rafa’s fault that a team full of international players couldn’t manage to create a solitary chance of note against Birmingham? Of course Torres should have started, but what if he’d have been injured? You’d still expect the side that took the field to have more than enough to beat the brummies convincingly. The players deserve a lot of the blame for the three poor performances they’ve produced in the last seven days, but they seem to be escaping any blame as everyone jumps on the rotation bashing band wagon. We knocked the ball about ok in front of Birmingham, but never looked like getting in behind. So what if there was no space for Torres to run into? He’s a player capable of beating a man in a tight space with his speed off the mark. Neither Kuyt nor Voronin can do that. We either tried to walk the ball through them, or slung in crosses that were swallowed up by their defenders. By the time Torres took to the field, Birmingham were well and truly set in their defensive shape and growing in confidence by the minute. The most lively attacking player was Pennant, who did ok against his old club and managed to get some crosses in that didn’t really come to anything. Babel did very little, and Gerrard was largely ineffectual. We didn’t ever really look like we would find a breakthrough, and as the game wore on the threat of losing something on the counter attack began to rear it’s ugly head. Reina’s goal was never seriously threatened, but they did have some promising situations that could have proved costly had they had more quality. Our back four deserve credit, as they’ve kept yet another clean sheet and did it fairly comfortably. The distribution from the back wasn’t the best though, and we missed Agger’s ability to carry the ball forward. Riise had an ok first half, but was terrible after the break. I thought Arbeloa did ok, and I would have probably given him the star man had it not been for Mascherano. I don’t actually think the Chief played that well, as he gave the ball away a few times with some unusually sloppy passing. But the chasing, harrying and general will to win he showed was admirable and made him stand out above the rest. Let’s not sugarcoat it, we were fucking awful once again, and the feelgood factor we had after hammering Derby is well and truly gone now. There’s been far too many echoes of last season in the past week, and although we’re still unbeaten I see no reason to celebrate that fact as dropping two points at home to Birmingham feels like a defeat. We can’t make up for this, as no matter what results we get from now on, we’ll always be looking back at these two points we threw away and wonder if they are going to prove costly. The mancs’ bad start had given us a good chance to build up a bit of a lead over them, but we’ve blown that now. Of course there’s a long way to go, but this result is just so, so, so depressing. It was the perfect opportunity to get back to winning ways after two poor displays, and we blew it. It was just a horrible game, played out in a shit atmosphere. The singing section was introduced with games like this in mind, yet can anyone notice a difference between this and last season? The atmosphere was as dire as the performance, and the travelling fans made themselves heard way more than the Kop did. A miserable day, capping a miserable week. The players need to pull their fingers out, and Rafa needs to stop fucking about and play his best players in the league. This year is a really good opportunity for us to do something, but already we’re seeing signs that lessons of the past have not been learnt, and that maybe we still don’t have the required quality in attacking positions. Team: Reina; Arbeloa, Carragher, Hyypia, Riise; Pennant (Finnan), Gerrard, Mascherano, Babel (Torres); Kuyt, Voronin (Crouch):

Wigan Res 0 LIVERPOOL RES 3 Report by Pete Schulz at the JJB Stadium Scorer(s) Jordy Brouwer, Nabil El Zhar, Ray PutterillHalf Time – 0-1 Venue – JJB Stadium, Wigan Date - Wed 19 Sep 2007 Star Man – Sebastian Leto Sebastian Leto put in a solid performance as Liverpool reserves beat their Wigan counterparts 3-0 on Wednesday night. Just as the rest of the country was getting ready to watch Arsenal and Manchester United do the nation proud (unlike Liverpool and Chelsea) over a thousand fans at the JJB Stadium saw Gary Ablett’s side, lead by the dangerous Argentinian, destroy their hosts in a one sided affair. Despite the arrival of God knows how many new faces (can anyone keep track anymore?) only three of them – the promising Mikel San Jose and Damien Plessis and aforementioned Sebastian Leto – had made it into the starting eleven. Two of the new Hungarians weren’t even in the squad, although keeper Peter Gulacsi made the bench. The reds dominated from the first whistle and within a couple of minutes had already threatened the Wigan goal twice after neat some wing play. The opener arrived as early as the fifth minute when fullback Stephen Darby crossed from the right towards the back post. Craig Lindfield rose like a salmon to head across goal where Dutch forward Jordy Brouwer, who arrived in January, was on hand to score his first reserve league goal for the club from about half a yard. In the next minute, however, Wigan could have been level when Mikel San Jose slipped with the ball at his feet. This allowed his opponent (no idea who, but let’s just call him no. 10) to nip in and steal the ball, but his long range effort went wide of David Martin’s goal. The reds kept creating chances throughout the half and it never looked like the goals had dried up. Leto and El Zhar changed wings a couple of times to add to the confusion in a Wigan backline that, at times, was all over the place. Leto especially, looks threatening at pace with the ball at his feet, and he gave the fullbacks a torrid time all night. On the opposite flank El Zhar was a bit more hit and miss, but he did show good touches and some flashes of brilliance. The most entertaining moment of the half came, however, when Jordy Brouwer collided with the referee just outside the Wigan box and both had to receive treatment. Disappointingly, the referee – unlike Brouwer – did not have to wait for an official to wave him back on when play had resumed. The second half saw much of the same even though the tempo went down slightly. At the back, San Jose and Hobbs were rarely put under pressure, and Martin had only a couple of long range efforts to deal with. On this evidence, Mikel San Jose is a very composed and calm defender, and Hobbs was just Hobbs. No nonsense, but definitely benefiting from his season in midfield the year before last. Their two fullbacks both performed solidly as well. Further forward Damien Plessis and Jay Spearing dominated the midfield and Craig Lindfield was busy as ever up front and was constantly making dangerous runs on the edge of offside. Brouwer, despite his goal, still looks a little off the pace, I must admit. The second goal arrived just after the hour mark when Sebastian Leto powered his way through on the left and put a great cross onto the back post where Jay Spearing headed it down to Brouwer. His effort was blocked, but the ball fell to El Zhar who chested it down, took one touch and fired it under Mike Pollitt to double the lead. Then came Ablett’s substitutions. Brouwer, Plessis and El Zhar went off within 9 minutes and they were replaced by Ryan Flynn, Ray Putterill and Ryan Crowther. And it was one of them, Ray Putterill who benefited from more brilliant play by the Argentinian left winger. Again Leto reached the byline and his low cross, which was fired in with pace, was collected by the substitute who then couldn’t miss with his second touch. He made it three from about seven yards. And even after that there was more goalmouth action as Lindfield picked up a good ball from Putterill, but his right foot curler crashed off the bottom of Pollitt’s far post. And in the final minute of the game, Mike Pollitt was called into action again to save Putterill's low shot. 'Razor' had another good chance in stoppage time but his powerful close range shot found the side netting. Team: Martin; Darby, San Jose, Hobbs, Insua; El Zhar (Crowther 75), Spearing, Plessis (Putterill 73), Leto; Brouwer (Flynn 66), Lindfield.

Portsmouth 0 LIVERPOOL 0 Report Mark Ingram at Fratton Park Scorer(s) - Half Time - 0-0 Venue - Fratton Park Date - Sat 15 September 2007 Star Man - Pepe Reina What a wasted trip that was. The first thing Rafa was supposed to have learnt from last season’s slow start was the need to reduce his obsessive tinkering in the early stages of the season to maintain momentum and pressure. So with one eye on a tricky midweek champions league tie at Porto what does he do? Tinkers, like a travelling Irish gypsy. The whole body of the team changed from the mauling at home to Derby two weeks ago and along with it a vast proportion of the team’s creativity and finishing ability. Fratton Park may be a pikey little village green on the outskirts of a pikey little village but it’s not an easy place to come and win as an away team, and Rafa knows that. The only reason they are still plying their trade in the Premier League is because of their very impressive home record, easily matching that of the ‘big four’ clubs, and for me Rafa missed a trick here. Not an impressive day in his managerial record by any means. Crouch and Benayoun found themselves on the team sheet for a rare outing, whether that means they won’t be needed on Tuesday remains to be seen. Crouch was playing against one of his many former clubs but to be honest, you’d never have known it. There wasn’t much in the way of pantomime booing and hissing coming from angry sections of home fans, instead they were more interested in singing their trademark Play Up Pompey chant. To be fair to them, they do create an atmosphere there, much of the credit for their home record must therefore go to the home fans. Benayoun started the liveliest, getting a decent snap shot away which James comfortably guided past his near post. Always worth getting a few speculative shots away against James as you never know how dodgy he’ll be one day to the next. Today, unfortunately, he wasn’t dodgy at all and was never really troubled by the Liverpool team at all, which is very annoying to have to say. The most likely we looked to score was in the first half when Crouch was put through from a decent move involving Voronin, the big man did all that could be asked of him, hitting a low shot with his wrong foot towards the far post, but the angle was against him and James got his lumbering frame down fast enough to take away the danger. These two shots were the sum total of all the pressure placed on the Portsmouth defence in the whole of the first half – pretty poor stuff. The main talking point of the half happened at the wrong end. That waste of time ref Riley gave yet another one of his trademark soft penalties for what? Lord only knows, but if it was a clear goal scoring opportunity that Arbeloa infringed then I’m an athletic world class striker. (I’m not by the way. I’m a pretty average 5-a-side journeyman with a gut and man-boobs that Wank Lampard would be proud of). So anyway, Riley gave them the penner, Carra, Arbeloa etc. stood around with their hands on their heads screaming blue murder at Riley, Kanu lolloped up and passed it, waist height into the line of the superbly engineered parabola that was Reina’s dive, the ball flew away to safety and lots of south coast pikies screamed ‘NOOOO’ in unison. Kanu’s name was then added onto the long line of past Pepe penner victims. Of course it’s good to see justice being done but, I’d have preferred him to save Lampard’s four weeks ago at Anfield, although this one was barely a more deserving award. Can referees as a whole please take note: WILL YOU PLEASE STOP GIVING DAFT PENALTIES AGAINST LIVERPOOL. Thank you. There was no sign of any big stars undergoing rigorous warm ups during the half time break which immediately led us to believe that the mandatory wait until the hour mark before the first sub would occur. It’s very rare that Benitez changes his systems and this is one that he seems very set in his ways about. Another one is the lack of double substitutions. In this instance, the use of a double sub at half time would have shaken things up considerably and would have provided the subs with enough time to get into the game and make a difference. As it was, Gerrard and Torres arrived within about five minutes of each other around the customary hour-mark and only really combined once to create a decent chance, which Torres very disappointingly sliced into the crowd. I must admit to expecting a far better finish from Torres, which I suppose is a credit to how he’s played so far. It was a bad miss though and I screamed some very loud obscenities after that one, Gerrard had done enormously well to create the chance but it was spooned hopelessly. Very disappointing. He did his best to make amends a few minutes before time when he turned a defender on the by line, eased into the box with some exceptional grace and provide a beautiful ball across the six yard box only for Voronin to miss by the length of a stud, a la Gazza v the Germans in Euro 96. He nearly got there but his telepathic understanding with Torres wasn’t quite as in tune as it could have been and so the ball drifted agonisingly wide. Very disappointing indeed. Voronin also made something out of half a chance, when he grazed the crossbar with a speculative roundhouse kick, but it wasn’t to be either. He’s a good all round forward, by the looks of things is Voronin, one of the qualities I like the best is his following up on the keeper for rebounds and pre-empting loose balls in the six yard box. We need a poacher like that and he will score goals like his Derby goal for us this season but, alas, today he didn’t, and the three points were not to be. The same applies for Torres, good forward, will score goals from similar situations to the one he spooned, but not today. All in all, a very disappointing trip to a horrible little part of the country. Two points wasted, most of the blame lying with the manager, and now we’ve lost almost all the advantage we had over the mancs and the chavs from our early season run. Not the end of the world by any means and I refuse to get all down about it on the lads or Rafa, but I expected better to be honest. No one played particularly well. Carragher & Agger more than held their own against the three man attack, although had Utaka been less of a donkey, we’d have been a goal down early in the second half. Finnan & Arbeloa didn’t do much wrong but didn’t do a great deal to remember either. Alonso didn’t impact the game enough and Sissoko won a few free kicks with some dodgy diving but otherwise wasn’t as influential as he has been. Benayoun tried his best but wasn’t the threat he should have been and likewise Pennant didn’t do enough to do his recent reputation any merit. Crouch was a bit of a handful but by no means a complete menace and Voronin was encouraging but didn’t quite have the luck that would have transformed his near misses into hard currency. Gerrard & Torres both made a bit of a difference and both supplied qualities, no, but neither could make it count. I suppose that leaves Reina as star man who brilliantly saved the penalty that never was, and made a couple of other decent stops, but to be fair didn’t have a great deal to do otherwise. It was all pretty disappointing but I suppose the positives need to be taken from it. At the moment we’re a bit like Kiera Knightly, very tight at the back, pretty hard to penetrate whilst being a little dodgy up front. All in all the whole package isn’t quite out of the top drawer, but it’s certainly looking better than it has done previously. Team: Reina; Finnan, Carragher, Agger, Arbeloa; Pennant (Gerrard), Alonso (Babel), Sissoko, Benayoun; Voronin, Crouch (Torres):

LIVERPOOL U18 2 Sheff Wed U18 0 Report by Pete Schulz at the Academy Scorer(s) - Ryan Crowther, David AmooHalf Time - 1-0 Venue - Liverpool Academy, Kirkby Date - Sat 15 Sep 2007 Star Man - Marvin Pourie Liverpool U18s got their season back on track with a comfortable 2-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday at the academy on Saturday morning. Second half goals from new signings Ryan Crowther and David Amoo made sure of the points, but it could and should have been more for the young reds who dominated throughout. ‘New’ coach Hughie MacAuley, who has returned to the academy after a spell at Melwood with the reserves, has quite a few new faces to choose from this season, and several of them made it into his starting eleven. In goal, Australian Dean Bouzanis made his debut because of injury to the normal first choice goalkeeper Martin Hansen. The young Dane has had another operation on the injured finger which also kept him out of the second leg of last season’s Youth Cup final at Old Trafford. Swedish youth international Astrit Ajdarevic, who did play on that occasion, was also on the sidelines with slight groin problems. In front of him were the twin towers of Martin Kelly and Joe Kennedy with Mattone Awang and Shane O’Connor either side. In midfield MacAuley picked the two first years Steve Irwin and Sean Highdale with new additions Ryan Crowther and Gary Mackay Steven on the wings. Up front, German forward Marvin Pourie, a new arrival from Dortmund, partnered David Amoo who has been signed from Millwall. The two haven’t really gelled so far this season as they’ve tended to make the same kind of attacking runs, but both look promising. The young reds started brightly in the Kirkby sunshine and the strong German forward found himself at the end of several dangerous moves. However, his finishing coupled with the form of the visitors’ goalkeeper, Arron Jameson, meant that reds goals were not forthcoming. On the left Gary Mackay Steven was constantly giving his fullback a hard time. He kept finding Pourie in good positions and it was a blow when he had to go off injured after 32 minutes. The Scot was replaced by promising forward Nathan Eccleston, who has also previously been used on the left wing. The home side dominated but couldn’t find the decisive opening and on the stroke of half time, Wednesday’s Leon Lekaj saw his effort bounce off Bouzanis’ crossbar. There were no changes at half time and the game continued in the same fashion after the interval. Pourie was again at the centre of things as Amoo was moved to the left wing with Eccleston given a chance in the middle. Despite the domination the breakthrough came following a counter attacking move. Ryan Crowther, who is at Melwood as part of Gary Ablett's reserve squad, had had rather a poor game, but his deflected shot left Jameson with no chance and from then on it was only a question of how many. The reds introduced highly rated Swedish midfielder Alexander Kacaniklic in place of Crowther midway through the half and he showed some very good touches on the left. He signed for the club in February but was injured in April and has had to wait a long time for his debut at this level. David Amoo, now on the right, started to show glimpses of his qualities on several occasions and he really does seem to have frightening pace. But Hughie MacAuley will no doubt be looking to help him utilise it even better in the coming matches. The forward quartet was leaving positive overall impressions but they should really have made it count. Pourie, who was my star man because he got into so many good positions, was unlucky when he smashed a curling shot off both uprights. But it wasn’t to be his day in front of goal and he was replaced by Michael Collins with 15 minutes to go. The reds did manage to double the lead though as the game entered the final stages. A good give and go with Michael Collins sent David Amoo clear, and he planted a low shot in the far corner of the Wednesday goal. The partnership with Pourie still needs work but it will be interesting to see what kind of understanding they can strike up during the season. With promising players in all the attacking positions of this year’s youth team, regular Academy-goers could be in for a good few more goals this season than we have been treated with recently. Here’s hoping. And Steve Heighway, who spent the second half chatting to his successor – sort of – John Owens behind the goal in front of the Academy building, will surely be back to check on the progress of some of his former players. Team: Bouzanis; Awang, Kelly, Kennedy, O'Connor; Crowther (Kacaniklic), Irwin, Highdale, Steven (Eccleston); Amoo, Pourie (Collins):

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Wig says he wants to play this week.

LIVERPOOL RES 2 Crewe Res 1 Report by Dave Usher at the Academy Scorer(s) Xabi Alonso (pan), Ray PutterillHalf Time – 1-0 Venue – The Academy, Kirkby Date - Tue 11 Sep 2007 Star Man – Xabi Alonso & Dani Pacheco Xabi Alonso and Ray Putterill were the scorers, and Spanish starlet Dani Pacheco made a big impression as Liverpool overcame a hard working Crewe Alexandra side at the Academy this afternoon. Rafa Benitez used this hastily arranged friendly to give run outs to all his senior stars not on international duty, meaning the likes of Alonso, Sissoko, Arbeloa, Benayoun, Pennant and fit again Fabio Aurelio all started the game. The reds changed all ten outfield players at half time, with only keeper Dave Martin completing the full ninety minutes. Lucas Leiva and Sebastian Leto also started the game, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if this line up is similar to the one we will see at Reading in the Carling Cup. There will be a few changes obviously, as I doubt we'll see Alonso lining up at centre back like he did in this game, and if Jordy Brouwer is anywhere near the squad I'll be amazed. Jack Hobbs may well feature however, given that Paletta has now left the club and we are short on centre back cover. This game was little more than a glorified training session, especially in the first half when Crewe seemed happy to just be on the same pitch as some of our star names. In truth nobody really stood out for us, and the first half was pretty boring with very little goalmouth action. Pennant was lively on the right, without ever getting into third gear. Benayoun had some nice moments but was not on the ball enough, and Leto and Leiva didn't do much to be fair. Alonso was imperious at the back, rarely having to break sweat and enjoying the freedom on the ball to pick out some nice forward passes. He didn't have to defend much, and I doubt we'll see him in this role ever again, but there were definitely flashes of Big Jan about him. Xabi is obviously slimmer, and ever so slightly quicker, but seeing him back there did evoke memories of when Kenny used to play the Great Dane in that role. I was especially looking forward to seeing Leiva in action, as he's come with a big reputation and I liked what I saw from him against Toulouse when he came on as a sub. It's difficult to know what to make of him, as he's not your typical Brazilian player that's for sure. He's neat and tidy, works hard and looks to be a good all rounder, but I'm sure there's a hell of a lot more to his game than what was in evidence in this kick about. The first half was so uneventful I didn't even bother taking any notes. The only real incidents of note I can remember are a couple of free kicks from Alonso and Aurelio that were narrowly off target, and the penalty that gave us a half time lead. It was a good move that led to it, as Pennant cut inside and played a neat one two with Benayoun before he was bundled over inside the box. Alonso stepped up and scored with ease, although even I would have put that pen away as the keeper had dived to his left more or less as soon as Xabi started his run up. He saw the keeper move and just put it down the middle. Pennant put a couple of decent balls across the box but there was no-one to get on the end of them, and Leto had a shot easily saved. That's about it for the first half. Rafa got the players together on the pitch and had a chat with them, before telling them to get on the bus. Except Hobbs and Brouwer, who for some reason were made to do laps around the pitch. I know they're reserve team squad members and the other lads were first teamers, but it seemed a bit harsh to me like! The second half team performed slightly better than the 'big heads' had done in the first half, but they did let a soft goal in. A mix up on the left gave possession away, and Crewe switched the ball to the other flank where the left winger escaped the attentions of Darby and crossed low across the box for the right winger to tap in from close range. The reds threatened regularly, with young Dani Pacheco looking especially lively and tricky. The kid looks so much like Saviola when he's running with the ball, and some of his touches and close control were a joy to watch. He was involved in the winning goal when he sent in a dipping cross from the right, and Putterill capitalised on some confusion in the Crewe defence to volley in at the back post. Interestingly, most of his team-mates opted not to go and congratulate him. Clearly they were worried about being snogged :whistle: 'Razor' didn't have the best of games in truth, it looked like he was trying too hard to impress. Rumour is Crewe are interested in taking him on loan, and with Benitez there watching as well maybe he was trying to do too much. He can play much better than this, but he still got the winning goal so fair play to him. The reds were controlling the midfield, with Spearing his usual busy and influential self, and new boy Damian Plessis slotting in nicely alongside him. This is the first look I've had of him, and I was impressed. He's a very big and athletic looking, but has a nice touch and kept things simple. The other new lad, Mikel San Jose, had a steady game at the back but didn't have much to do. He's pretty good on the ball, but then anyone would look good on the ball compared to Ronald Huth. The word 'uncomplicated' sums Ronald up nicely. He's great in the air, extremely strong and is a good marker, but he doesn't mess about with the ball at his feet, that's for sure. Huth by name, Hoof by nature. He does a good job though to be fair, and not much gets past him. Lindfield had a weak shot from a tight angle saved, and also had a improvised backheel blocked by a defender, but the reds couldn't manage another goal and in the closing stages Crewe finally started to apply some pressure from set pieces. One almighty scramble at the end saw Martin make a save, and then the rebound was headed onto the bar before the danger was scrambled away. Anything but a Liverpool win would have been a travesty, as both Liverpool sides were in control of the game. Star man in the first half was between Alonso and Pennant, with Xabi just getting the nod. Second half, there were some decent displays. Lindfield worked hard and was unlucky not to score, Spearing and Plessis did well in the middle, but Pachecho was the pick for me. He was always dropping off looking for the ball, and when he laid it off he would go looking for it again. He's very busy, and very skillful. It's going to be fun watching him this season. For exclusive photo's from this game, click here Liverpool (1st half): Martin; Arbeloa, Hobbs, Alonso, Aurelio; Pennant, Sissoko, Leiva, Leto; Benayoun, Brouwer: (2nd half): Martin; Darby, San Jose, Huth, Threlfall; Flynn, Plessis, Spearing, Putterill; Pacheco, Lindfield:

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One down at half time: http://www.liverpoolway.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?p=813051

LIVERPOOL 6 Derby 0 Report by Dave Usher at Anfield Scorer(s) - Xabi Alonso (2), Fernando Torres (2), Ryan Babel, Andriy VoroninHalf Time - 2-0 Venue - Anfield Date - Sat 1 September 2007 Star Man - Xabi Alonso It had been coming for a long time, and it was hardly a surprise that sorry Derby were on the receiving end. We are perhaps the most wasteful team in the league in front of goal, but there will be days where we get it right and when we do someone will take a battering. Yesterday it was Derby’s turn, but they won’t be the last to suffer. There’s been a change in Rafa Benitez’s approach this season, it’s as though he’s finally released the shackles and decided that shit teams need to be put to the sword, they don’t deserve the respect he’s often shown them. Witness the way he went to three men up front even though we were already four goals up. In the past, we’d go two goals up and settle for that. This time we went out to get more goals, and long may it continue. It seems like I’m always whining about us not being clinical enough and wasting too many chances. Even the other night against Toulouse we missed a shedload of clear chances, but like I said to mates afterwards I don’t care how many we miss as long as we score four. Or six! It would be churlish of me to complain about anything after this game, I’ll leave that to Rafa, as you know he’ll find something he wasn’t happy about just to keep people on their toes. I still feel we could have been more clinical in the first half, but ultimately it didn’t matter because the problem was more than rectified after the break when we ran riot. There’s so many things I liked about this game, and a hell of a lot of things to be encouraged about. For one thing, we’ve scored twelve goals in three games without Steven Gerrard. We haven’t missed him, not one tiny bit. That’s not meant to be disparaging of the captain, it’s merely making the point that we have people to cover. Whatsmore, we have more than one player to bring in. Last weekend Sissoko came in and was the matchwinner. This weekend Mascherano came in alongside Alonso, and it was a truly brilliant display from the pair. On paper a partnership of Mascherano and Alonso is not the greatest attacking force in the world, as both like to play more of a holding role. Thing is, sometimes we tend to pigeon hole players and think they can only do the one job. Having Mascherano alongside him allowed Xabi to get forward and play higher up the pitch. He scored two, and should have had three. And Mascherano also has a lot more in his locker than what he’s shown us so far. I really think he’s capable of getting forward and being a creative force. Neither are as effective as Gerrard, obviously, but I like the look of them as a pair. Mind you, Mascherano and Sissoko worked well together last weekend at Sunderland, and it seems that regardless of what combination we go for, there aren’t many teams in Europe that will be able to field a stronger central midfield than us (especially when you pick two from Gerrard, Mascherano and Alonso – sorry Momo!). But then we knew that anyway didn’t we? The big question marks we have had hanging over us are up front and out wide. Those question marks are still there, it’s too early to say otherwise, but the doubts are being erased by the week now. Pennant was brilliant again, he’s growing in stature every week now and he absolutely terrorised Derby’s right back. He was moved to the left flank early in the first half, a move that I thought was more for Babel’s benefit than anything else, as he wasn’t getting into the game at all. The Dutchman looks more at home on the right flank than the left, but on the evidence of this game Rafa may have stumbled upon something here. Pennant can play just as effectively on the left as he does on the right, and that is an interesting option for us to have. It probably won’t do his England chances any harm either, but that’s of no concern to me. Virtually everything we created in the first half had Pennant at the heart of it. First he produced a lovely cross from the right to pick out Torres, but his header was saved by the Derby keeper. Then he twice picked out Kuyt with pinpoint deliveries, only for Dirk to wastefully put both efforts over the bar. He was also involved in the opening goal, as it was he who won the free kick that Alonso fooled the keeper with. It was a fluke goal of course, but the delivery was excellent and although it’s easy to blame the keeper, I don’t think he could have done too much about it as he couldn’t commit himself to stopping the free-kick in case Kuyt got a touch. Had Bywater moved to collect the free-kick and Dirk got anything on it, it was a certain goal. That kind of situation is a nightmare for keepers, and plenty of goals seem to be scored like that these days. The goal should have opened the floodgates, but we had to wait until just before half time for the second. It was a truly stunning goal, one I could watch over and over. The whole moved just reeked of awesomeness. Arbeloa made a run in behind their full back and was pointing to exactly where he wanted the ball played. Agger spotted the run, and slid the ball through inch perfectly into the Spaniard’s path. With plenty of players to look for in the middle, it would have been easy to play the wrong pass, but Arbeloa took his time and cut it back to Babel on the edge of the box. The dummy that took two players out of the game was wonderful, but it was topped by the coolness he showed in giving the keeper the eyes before sweetly striking the ball into the other corner. It was just a truly fantastic goal all round. Up to that point Babel had not done much, but after the goal he was a different player. I had never seen him play prior to joining us, and I haven’t really been sure what to make of him. To me he looks a bit clumsy on the ball and always seems like he could stand on the ball and fall over at any time. I did wonder if it was just his style, and that maybe he’s one of those deceptive players who’s a lot better than he actually appears. You know the type, players with an ‘awkward’ style. After watching him against Derby, it’s obvious that this is indeed the case. He’s very raw, but he did some things that were breathtaking, not least the goal. I’m happy now that he is in actually control of what he is doing, even if it doesn’t always look like. The other night he showed some nifty footwork to play in Kuyt, but even then I was wondering if maybe he’d just gotten lucky. The more I see him, the more reassured I am that he just has a bit of an unusual style. He came alive after his goal and was direct and dangerous. Derby really were the perfect opposition to make an impression against, and to be fair every player in our side did that. The second half was an absolute demolition job. Derby were lucky to only concede six in the end. Alonso should have made it three nil just after the break after a superb flowing move started by the outstanding Arbeloa. Torres then fed Kuyt who rolled it to Xabi, but somehow he put it over the bar when it was easier to score. The key point here though, was that Alonso was forward in open play, and was shooting from the edge of the six yard box. How often have we seen that before? Like I said, he and Mascherano actually pose a lot more attacking threat than they often show. They just need to be allowed off the leash now and again! The third goal was always coming, and it was Mascherano’s presence up the field that created the opening for Torres. Not that the little Argie maestro was charging forward with the ball, he was doing what he does better than anyone (with the possible exception of Sissoko), closing people down and snapping at their heels. He just doesn’t give anyone a second on the ball, he’s awesome and must be a nightmare to play against. Derby’s holding midfielder (don’t know who he was) didn’t realise that the Chief was bearing down on him and he allowed himself to be caught in possession. The ball was fed into the path of Torres, and he did the rest, driving through the heart of Derby’s defence before finishing with aplomb into the bottom corner. He made it look easy, when it really wasn’t that clear of a chance when he first picked the ball up. With the game in the bag, Rafa decided to get his subs on. One of the most exciting aspects of what’s going on at the moment is that we have so many players desperate to play, that when we bring subs on you can see how keen they are to make an impression and catch the manager’s eye. First, Benayoun came on for Pennant who was given a rapturous reception when he left the field. It’s great to see the way he’s won the fans over after a poor start. It was around this time last year the crowd cheered him off the field in very different circumstances against Portsmouth, but he’s turned it round and credit to him. Like I keep saying, I really, really enjoy watching him play these days, he’s a class act. Benayoun is a player with a point to prove as well, as he wants playing time but he’ll have to perform to a very high standard to get it. That’s one of the reasons we’re looking so good at the moment. Players want to play, but they are in competition with other good players. Benayoun was very good against Toulouse, and some will have felt he did enough to deserve a start against Derby. But Pennant started the game, and raised the bar again. If Yossi is going to oust Jermaine from the side, he’ll need to raise his game even further, and that can only be good for assssss, no? It’s the same all over the park. Riise looks to have fallen behind Arbeloa in the pecking order, and on current form you can’t argue. Arbeloa started his career at Anfield very promisingly, then he had a few ropey games towards the end of the season and it was all threatening to go a bit ‘Josemi’. He’s started this season in brilliant form though, and looks a real find. £2m for the Arbeloa we’re seeing at the moment is threatening to be the steal of the decade. He needs to keep it up though as it’s still early days. Benayoun was involved in the fourth goal, although crediting him with an assist would be stretching things a little. Babel played a one two with Mascherano and surged into the box before cutting the ball back. Yossi was shaping to shoot when he was almost cut in two by a powerful challenge by McEveley, and with some of the crowd hopefully appealing for what would have been an incredibly harsh penalty, Alonso latched onto the loose ball and caressed it into the bottom corner for his second goal of the game. The strength of the squad and the hunger of the substitutes was further in evidence when Voronin replaced Babel. I’m sure I wasn’t the only person in the stadium that KNEW Voronin would score when he came on. As long as he had at least twenty minutes, I had no doubt he’d get one. He must have been looking at that Derby backline from the subs bench, itching to get on. His goal was a tap in, but credit to him for getting in there, and again it was good build up play that created the opening. Kuyt and Torres combining well before Bywater could only parry Dirk’s crosshot into the path of the Ukranian with the second coolest hair at the club (incidentally, Leto walked past me in the main stand before the game, and we shared a mutual nod of respect that you only get between people with good hair). Three goals already for Voronin now, which is a dream start for a player I’ll admit I expected very little from. Good on him, I’m delighted he’s proving doubters like myself wrong. He kept Crouch out of the 16, which will no doubt fuel the rumours that the big man is being pushed out. Thing is, like I said in the Toulouse game, Crouch had the chance to impress Benitez but I don’t think he took it. He didn’t do enough to force himself ahead of Voronin, never mind Kuyt. Crouch will have to do more because the competition is so fierce. Once again, that can only be good for the club. The competition for places up front hasn’t been this intense since the treble season when we had Owen, Fowler, Heskey and Litmanen battling it out. Torres of course is the number one striker, and the other three are basically fighting it out to partner him. The £20m man had missed a great chance to grab a second goal when he put the rebound wide after Babel had almost decapitated a defender with a trademark piledriver. Derby’s generosity ensured Fernando wouldn’t have to wait too long to double his afternoon’s tally, as Andy Todd’s shockingly underhit backpass allowed him to take the ball around Bywater and roll it into the empty net in front of the Kop. 6-0, and still time to add to it. Derby went into damage limitation mode, introducing extra defenders such as the giant Darren Moore and just trying to avoid letting in ten. Having said that, they should have pulled a goal back themselves, only for Fagan to horribly miss his kick from close range when he only had Reina to beat. Fagan had been a right snide all game, complaining to the referee and mouthing off at Arbeloa before committing a disgraceful stamp on the reds full back that went unpunished. Derby simply couldn’t cope, they were outplayed in every department and looked a very, very poor side. Even so, I’m not buying into this ‘well it was only Derby’ stuff. Yeah, they were shite, but so are plenty of other sides we’ve faced and not put six past. People say Sunderland are shit, but look at how the mancs struggled to beat them. We have a habit of making teams look bad, because we are very difficult to play against. It’s a skill we’ve had for some time, but now we have added an extra attacking threat to our play which means not only can we make teams look bad, we can make ourselves look good too. Torres is a big part of that, largely because you can see teams don’t want to play against him. Hansen’s assessment of Torres on MOTD was very interesting I thought. Jocky made the point that Torres plays through the centre all the time, he doesn’t go out wide too much, he likes to stay in between the two centre backs and play in areas where he can hurt them. He backed it up with plenty of examples and it was very informative. Torres works hard, and when you combine that with the phenomenal work ethic of Kuyt, defenders know they aren’t going to have a minutes peace. In fact, throughout our team we have an incredible work rate. We press the ball and don’t allow teams to play, and no-one is going to look forward to playing against us. We’re not exactly Rafa’s old Valencia ‘crushing machine’ yet, but we’re getting there. Star man could have been anyone from about six. Arbeloa was terrific, Torres was a real handful, Mascherano is just phenomenal, Pennant was electric, Babel was exciting, but I’m going for Alonso. He just had an all round great game. On a final note, Derby's fans were miles better than their team. The away end was packed, and they kept singing all game regardless of how many goals they let in. The 'bring on United' chant was funny, although I'm not sure what the 'six nil and you still don't sing' was all about, considering the Kop were singing for most of the game. Still, maybe they couldn't hear it from the away end, as it wasn't exactly enough to lift the roof off Anfield. Better than most of these kind of games though. One more thing, I've got a seriously irrational hatred of Billy Davies. I really, really can't stand him but have no real idea why. I hate his stupid little face and his stupid little voice, but it really shouldn't be enough to evoke such strong negative feelings towards him. He's not up there with Moyes, Ferguson or the Translator, obviously, but I really do hate the guy, which is weird. It's not a new phenemona either, I hated him last season even when they weren't in the Premiership. Strange one this, maybe I've just forgotten why I hate him, or maybe it's just completely irrational, like the hatred I feel for that Jon Dahl Tommasson twat. The pob looking bastard. Team: Reina; Finnan, Hyypia, Agger, Arbeloa; Pennant (Benayoun), Alonso, Mascherano (Sissoko), Babel (Voronin); Kuyt, Torres:

LIVERPOOL 4 Toulouse 0 Report by Dave Usher at Anfield Scorer(s) - Peter Crouch, Sami Hyypia, Dirk Kuyt (2)Half Time - 1-0 Venue - Anfield Date - Tue 28 August 2007 Star Man - Javier Mascherano Dirk Kuyt and Peter Crouch both staked their claim to partner Fernando Torres this weekend, as sorry Toulouse were trampled into submission on an emotional night at Anfield. It wasn’t exactly a second string side, but to be able to win so convincingly without Gerrard, Alonso, Carragher, Pennant and Torres amongst others is highly encouraging. Toulouse weren’t much opposition, but even so, the manner in which they were overcome was impressive. The display of the players on the pitch was excellent, but it was surpassed by the performance of a capacity crowd who did the club, and the city, proud all evening. Beforehand there was much discussion about whether it was appropriate to play z-cars, or even whether this horrible tragedy is even football related. There is some validity in the arguments, but my own view was that Liverpool Football Club and its fans wanted to do something to show Rhys Jones’ family that they are in our thoughts. Whatever they came up was fine by me, I just wanted to be able to pay my respects to that poor family in some way. Had LFC not organised that tribute, how else would we have been able to do that? Seeing the Jones family stood there on the pitch was heart breaking. I can’t even begin to imagine what they are going through, my heart goes out to them. It was a fitting gesture, and the YNWA that followed z-cars was sung with more emotion than I can remember in a long time. Seeing Rafa hugging Melanie Jones brought a tear to the eye, and it felt to me like YNWA was being sung for three people dressed in Everton blue even more so than the eleven redmen out there. I don’t think this will make too much difference to red and blue relations (although you never know, I suppose), but at least for this one night there was some solidarity. Anfield on European nights is always special, and even though this was a low profile game in comparison to what we have become used to, the crowd were in good form all night. The tribute to Rhys was moving, the support during the game was excellent, and the sportsmanship at the end was typically impressive. In short, it was a priviledge to be at Anfield last night. The game itself was very enjoyable too, especially the first half when I thought we were excellent. Despite the numerous changes to the side, there was a fluidity to our play and the high tempo that was set by Mascherano and Sissoko was just too much for the French side to deal with. Whenever they had the ball, Momo and the Chief swarmed all over them, and the rest of the side were quick to follow their lead. The opening goal for Crouch was a great example of this. Momo won possession and started an attack. The attack looked to have broken down when Benayoun ran into trouble, but he didn’t give it up and made a tackle to get the ball to Kuyt on the right flank. He crossed, Crouch scored and the tie was as good as over from that moment on, as there was no way Toulouse were going to score twice. Crouch should have had three before half time, but made a hash out of two free headers. I had a little flutter before the game on him getting a hat-trick, so I was none too impressed with the big man’s profligacy in front of goal. Crouchy is reportedly unhappy about the way he appears to have slipped down the pecking order. I’ve got some sympathy for him, especially the way he was repeatedly left out last season even though he was scoring goals. There’s no point him sulking over it though, he’s got to perform to a level where he makes it virtually impossible for Benitez to overlook him. He scored a decent goal against Toulouse, but he hasn’t done nearly enough to make himself undroppable. Maybe if he’d buried another couple of the numerous chances he had then Rafa would have a problem, but he didn’t and it was his strike partner who staked the biggest claim to partner Torres. If ever a player got his just reward, it was Dirk in this game. Once Sami had made it 2-0 we started to cruise a little. There wasn’t that much urgency to go and score more goals, with Kuyt being the exception. He ran the channels and was constantly looking to get in behind them and get shots in. He had a shot deflected onto the bar, he missed a couple of headers and he dragged a shot wide from a difficult angle. He kept plugging away though, like he always does, and he got his just desserts with two goals in the closing minutes. Both were taken very well, the first after a lovely interchange with lively substitute Babel, and the second with a deft finish following a clever through ball from Benayoun. With Torres given the night off, Kuyt staked the biggest claim to partner him at the weekend when we entertain Derby. Two goals, an assist and a good all round performance have surely earned him the right to stay in the side. Opinion amongst the fans seems to be split on Kuyt. He does some good things and some bad things in every game he plays. I’m not convinced that he’s good enough in the long term, but I don’t think I’ve ever wanted a player to prove himself to be good enough as much as I want Kuyt to do it. In an era in which many modern footballers come across as spoilt, greedy, out of touch bellwhiffs (I’m talking Ferdinand, Dyer, Lampard, Ashley Cole etc), you look at someone like Dirk Kuyt and you can relate to him. I read a comment from someone on the forum describing him as ‘the foreign Carra’ and that’s spot on. If anyone deserves to be successful, it’s Dirk Kuyt. It was good to see him get off the mark for the season, and there’s definitely goals in him, I just don’t know how many. A combination of erratic finishing, and sacrificing himself to drop deep and help the team have restricted the impact he’s had in the scoring charts since coming here, but if he can be a little more clinical and selfish (and it was good to see his shoot on sight policy in this game) then he could still be our twenty goal a season man. I don’t know if he will prove to be capable of it, but it won’t be for a lack of trying. As good as Kuyt was, I still don’t think he was our best player on the night. That honour goes to Mascherano. He was just phenomenal, and gave a midfield masterclass. Defensively he was brilliant, as usual, and he also dictated the tempo of our play with his clever passing and switching of the play. I don’t remember him wasting a pass all night, and his work rate is really high. I get tired just watching him. What a player. A partnership of Mascherano and Sissoko is always going to make it tough for the opposition, but the concern would be that it makes it tough for us as well, as neither asre known for their attacking prowess (notwithstanding Momo’s goal at the weekend). Against Toulouse though it worked quite well. Momo got forward to help out the widemen and strikers, and the balance looked good. Of course, the level of opposition has to be taken into account, and I wouldn’t especially want to see Momo and the Chief playing too many Premiership games together, but it is encouraging to see that all of our midfield foursome can play together and be effective. That foursome might even become a fivesome, as young Lucas did well when he came on. I was impressed with his contribution, he was lively but kept things fairly simple and I’m looking forward to seeing more of him. I’m not sure what to make of Leto, aside from the fact he has great hair. Replacing Bolo was never going to be an easy task, but I think Rafa may well have topped the classically coiffed Dutchman. Young Leto has the best hair since Paddy Berger in his alice band wearing heyday. As for his footballing abilities, well I thought he started very brightly, but faded badly. All things considered, it was a decent debut from him, and he’s clearly got good technique and a sweet left foot. His corners were really good too, and hopefully as the season progresses he’ll develop into a player who can give us another option on the left flank, as although I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a problem position, it isn’t exactly our strongest area either. Riise had a poor game I thought, but everyone else did pretty well. Benayoun enjoyed a good home debut, showing some silky skills and clever passing. Arbeloa was excellent and is really proving to be a valuable player for us, and Sami Hyypia showed why we are lucky to have a player of his class as back up for Agger and Carragher. When he doesn’t have to play twice a week every week, Sami is awesome. Hopefully he will see out his career at Anfield and collect the only medal missing from his collection. At the final whistle, the Kop began chanting ‘Toulouse’. It took a few seconds for the away end to realise what was happening, but word quickly spread and they all began to applaud before responding by chanting ‘Liverpool’. Clearly these fans don’t share the views of their compatriots Platini and Gaillard when it comes to Liverpool supporters. No doubt Platini will be desperately hoping we get a tough group when the draw is made tomorrow, as the last thing he’ll want is us reaching another final. Personally I don’t care who we get, as in Europe I fancy us to beat anyone, home or away. I just wish we could get Chelsea, as it’d be nice to have a quick chance to make them pay for what happened a couple of weeks ago. It can wait til the semi finals though I suppose. Team: Reina; Arbeloa, Hyypia, Agger (Finnan), Riise; Benayoun, Sissoko (Lucas), Mascherano, Leto (Babel); Kuyt, Crouch:

LIVERPOOL 1 Chelsea 1 Report by Dave Usher at Anfield Scorer(s) - Fernando TorresHalf Time - 1-0 Venue - Anfield Date - Sun 19 August 2007 Star Man - Steve Finnan New season, same old same old. Chelsea are still horrible snidey cheating twats, Rob Styles is still utterly incompetant and out of his depth, and we are still not converting enough chances. To criticise our players for wastefulness in front of goal would be unfair after this though, as we did enough to win and it is down to one man and one man only that we didn’t. There are many reds out there convinced that Styles was paid off. I’m not one of them, I just think he’s fucking useless and always has been. Had this been a good referee making such unfathomable decisions, I’d be suspicious. Rob Styles is known for his incompetence though. We should have seen that penalty coming, as even in the first half he made so many staggeringly bad decisions. As for the Essien ‘second yellow’, I don’t think he was booking Essien, he’d just forgotten that he’d already showed the card to Mongo a minute earlier and so he showed it again. He’s a fucking moron who should not be refereeing any big games as they are simply too much for him. But bollocks to Rob Styles, I’m not going to harp on about his performance as I’d prefer to focus on the positives to come out of this game, and there were plenty. One the one hand we’ve been screwed out of two points here, but it’s not the end of the world as we haven’t lost any ground on Chelsea or Arsenal, and we’ve gained another point over the mancs. So although things could and should be better, we’re not in bad shape. As for other positives, well Torres getting his first goal is a big one, especially given the manner of it. It was a goal of stunning quality, and it looked so effortless. His all round performance wasn’t anything to write home about (he was good, but not exceptionally so), but that goal was brilliant. His pace, directness and ability to go past people gives us something we’ve been lacking since Baros left. Pennant was another big positive. He’s well and truly won me over now, in fact he did that several months ago. I don’t care what he’s like off the pitch, or that every time he opens his mouth in interviews he seems to be crying about not getting an England call up. The bottom line is I really enjoy watching him play, he’s a damn good player and he’s getting better. I thought he was excellent today, and once again he had the beating of his pal Ashley. The big concern is his petulance and frustrating habit of picking up silly bookings. He’s been subbed a few times because Rafa was worried about him getting sent off, and maybe that’s why he was brought off in this game, I don’t know. I wouldn’t have taken him off though, as he seemed to have regained his cool and he was giving Chelsea loads of problems. The major plus for me though is the way we reacted to being pegged back. And perhaps even more significantly, the way Chelsea reacted. A year ago, if they’d got an equaliser against us they’d have put us right under the cosh and we’d have been hanging on. This time, we pegged them back, threw on an extra striker and they introduced an extra defender. Whatsmore, they were time wasting and doing everything they could to break the play up and stop us building up a head of steam. They were delighted with a point, we were desperately disappointed. That is significant, as they know we’re a threat. As frustrating as it is not to pick up the three points, ultimately it won’t be an issue if we just go out and beat all the sides we should be beating. Dropping two points to Chelsea is not especially damaging. Dropping two against the likes of Derby or Sunderland who we face in the next couple of weeks would be a very big deal. We were better than Chelsea and deserved to win, but there is definitely room for improvement. We missed some chances we should have put away, especially Riise but also Gerrard and Alonso. They weren’t sitters by any means, but you have to at least hit the target and we didn’t do it. We’ve got to become more clinical, because if we do then we’re capable of winning any competition we enter, including the Premiership. There were a few contenders for the star man. In the first half Gerrard was colossal. There was an aggressive intent in everything he did. He snapped into tackles and he chased and harried. He faded a bit in the second half, but I put that down to him picking up a booking and having to tone his game down slightly. He was still very good though. Arbeloa was good too. He defended well and got forward when he could. Wright-Phillips managed to get away from him a couple of times and got dangerous crosses in, but the little fella is in really good form at the moment and would give any full back problems. Overall Alvaro stuck to his task well. I’ve mentioned Pennant, and Carra and Agger played well too, but I’m going for Finnan as star man. Malouda has looked very good since joining Chelsea, but he got nothing out of Finnan who was his customary excellent self. It was interesting that Rafa opted for the same team that had faced Villa last week. We know he’s going to rotate, but a lot of people would like to see him play the same team for the first half a dozen or so league games so we can try and amass as many points as possible early on. Is that happening? We’ll know next week I suppose, but it does seem like this might be what Rafa feels is his strongest eleven. Team: Reina; Finnan, Carragher, Agger, Arbeloa; Pennant (Babel), Gerrard, Alonso, Riise (Crouch); Kuyt, Torres: You didn’t really think I was going to leave it at that did you? Like I could possibly write about this game without resorting to personal abuse to the likes of Mongo, Cashley and Drogba. The only difficulty is where to start. I’ll start at the top, with the Translator. Apparently the referee had a ‘positive game’. Depends on what you’re wanting from a referee I suppose. Then we have this little gem: "we are naive, because we don't dive into a swimming pool, we don't have violent people, we don't have nasty tacklers." What the fuck does that even mean? Half the time when he speaks I don’t even know what he’s talking about. Swimming Pool? What the fuck? As for not diving, well I’ve seen Mongo, Carvalho, both Coles, Robben, Drogba, Makalele and Ballack all take regular dives, and you can add Malouda to that list as well. There’s probably others who I have forgotten to mention. He also brought up Garcia’s goal in the press conference afterwards, the boring predictable strunz. He claims that he’s a changed man this season, but the only thing different I’ve noticed is that he’s got a different shit coat. Can’t wait til semi final time rolls round again. Then we have the captain. If there’s a more despicable horrible cunt in this league than Mongo then I’ve not seen him. I hate his face, his huge forehead, his stupid fucking thin spikey hair, his stumpy legs and his gay pulled up socks. He’s a dirty snide bastard, he’s a diver and he’s a mouthy twat who’s always in the refs face. He’s also a shithouse who doesn’t have the bottle to take a penalty and cries like a baby when he loses. I really, really hate him with a passion, and it was great seeing Torres taking no shit from him. They did their best to kick Torres out of the game, and definitely singled him out for special treatment. Nothing ‘naïve’ about that. As much as I hate Mongo though, the song about his ma made me a little uncomfortable. I don’t care whether his feelings were hurt or not, but his mum has done nothing to deserve being mocked and how can we have a go at Evertonians singing about Gerrard’s baby when we do this to John Terry? I can’t blame anyone for singing it as he is such a horrible specimen that it’s understandable, but personally I don’t think it does us any favours. Maybe I’m being a wet blanket, but it’s how I feel. There are plenty of other things we could mock him for without bringing his mother into it. But anyway, who’s next? Drogba. Now here is an absolutely awesome footballer, who if he didn’t act like such a fanny I would actually have a lot of time for. The way he can hold off a defender and bring down a ball under pressure has me in awe sometimes. He’s a phenomenal player, yet he’s also the second biggest cunt in English football behind his captain. He dives, he complains, and he’s just an all round fucking busy body. Whenever anything is happening on the field, you’ll see this catpiss haired twat with his arm around the referee bitching about something. He got away with murder yesterday. Pennant was booked for complaining about a shocking decision, yet Drogba was allowed to sarcastically applaud the referee and Carragher after he was penalised for a foul. He later kicked the ball away to waste time after he’d committed another foul, yet still no card from Stiles. I guess hanging around with the ref all game touching him up has it’s benefits. Next we have Tal Ben Haim, an ideal signing for Chelsea having served his apprenticeship at Bolton. Bolton under Allardyce were basically Chelsea without money. Similar formation, similar tactics, similar level of cuntiness. Bolton were the diet version to Chelsea’s full fat one. He’s a cry baby just like his captain, and did nothing but complain to the referee about Torres. He couldn’t stop Fernando by fair means, so he just resorted to obstructing him and then accusing our boy of diving. Another horrible twat who has found his spiritual home. Just like Ashley Cole in fact. Here is a player who was brilliant at Arsenal, a real swashbuckling attacking full back. But he got greedy and put money ahead of his football. Now he’s stuck in a team that doesn’t let him cross the half way line, and in which his limited defensive abilities are exposed. Pennant has got the better of him three times in a row now. Ashley Cole epitomises everything I hate about modern footballers. As does Lampard. Once again he was more or less anonymous against us. But for Styles gifting him the equaliser, the only contribution this turd made to the game was once again taking a cheapshot at Alonso. Have to laugh when I see him celebrating in front of the Chelsea fans as though he actually cares. He cares about money, and food. Nothing else. Twat. And what about that Obi Mikel piece of shit. Is it just me, or does anyone else think he’s absolutely fucking useless? A big clumsy lumbering grock who kicks people and wastes time by pretending to be injured. How in God’s name is he getting a game ahead of Makalele? Maybe he gives better sexual favours to Jose. Who else do we have? Essien is a little thug, Joe Cole licks windows and I’m really going to grow to hate Malouda, I can tell even at this early stage. Cech I don’t mind, except he looks like a tit in that crash helmet. At least he isn’t a twat like the rest of his team (actually I’ve nothing against Kalou or SWP either). I just hate Chelsea, they really are a despicable bunch of reprehensible human beings. No doubt this will end up being posted on a Chelsea forum, but I honestly couldn’t care less what anyone connected with Chelsea thinks. I’ve got no respect for their opinions. So don’t bother registering on the forum, or emailing me because I’m not interested in anything you have to say. I will talk football with fans of any club, even Evertonians and mancs. You can have decent conversations with them, but when it comes to Chelsea I just have no interest in anything they have to say. I have nothing in common with any of them. Their mentality is the complete opposite to mine, and can be summed up by them chanting ‘you let your country down’ to Carra. He’s scouse first, English second, but they could never possibly understand that. SOME OF US DON’T GIVE A FUCK ABOUT ENGLAND, AND IT’S PARTLY BECAUSE OF GOBSHITES LIKE YOU. They laughably taunted us about our ‘atmosphere’, yet here is a club who’s fans sit there in silence at the Bridge when they’re playing Barcelona or Liverpool in massive CL games. They had a cheesy little banner claiming Liverpool is a trophyless zone. No sense of irony whatsoever these wankers. Five European Cups and Eighteen Leagues. . . . . I’m just really disappointed they didn’t bring those pretty little flags they all had for the semi last year at the Bridge. It would have really brightened up Anfield that would. Sad bastards.

NATHAN ECCLESTON PROFILE by Dave Usher Date of Birth - 30/12/90 Nationality - English Position - Striker Squad Number - 39 Cost - Club Hons (Lpool) - None Intnl Hons - England u18 Other Clubs - Huddersfield Town (loan), Charlton (loan) Pacey striker from Manchester who made the breakthrough to the first team squad in the 2009/10 season. Nathan has impressed at every level since joining the reds and enjoyed an excellent 2006/07 season for the u16 side, scoring a lot of goals and turning in a string of impressive displays. He was included in the FA Youth Cup squad for the semi final at Newcastle, and appeared as a substitute in the 1st leg of the final against Manchester United at Anfield. It was the following season however when he really came to prominence, scoring goals for fun at u18 level, and making his debut for the reserves. He scored in that game too, from the penalty spot. His progress was hampered in 2008/09 as he found himself in the middle of a political battle between Rafa Benitez and the Academy. Reserve team boss Gary Ablett wanted to select Nathan, as well as the likes of Amoo and Kacaniklic, but was not allowed to pick players from the Academy and had to select only from those players Benitez had recruited into his own 'Melwood Academy'. When Benitez got his new contract and the control over the Academy he wanted, Eccleston, Amoo and Kacaniklic were all promoted into the reserve set up and all have made big strides since. Nathan was quickly amongst the goals in 2009/10, and was called into the 1st team squad for the Carling Cup tie at Arsenal, where he featured as a late substitute. He also made his Premiership debut as a late sub against Fulham. In January 2010 Nathan was loaned out to Huddersfield Town, and made an immediate impact by scoring the winning goal on his debut. He returned to Liverpool for pre-season in 2010 and was a regular in new boss Roy Hodgson's squads in the early weeks of the season. A low point for Nathan came against Northampton in the League Cup, when he missed a penalty at the Kop end as the reds lost a penalty shoot out to the league two side. His first start came in the Europa League clash with Utrecht at Anfield, where he acquitted himself well. With 1st team opportunities limited, Nathan was loaned out to Charlton for the remainder of the season where he scored three times in 19 appearances. Video Clips of Nathan Eccleston in action mlOgrT_Lou8 yWx6EEnGcak 9-hfmyQMhcs